Congratulations! So, you’re a new writer, but you’re understandably nervous because posting anything online is pretty daunting. Should you write it?
Of course you should write it. And you are going to write the hell out of it and we are going to be in awe of you and your beautiful story and marvel at what you gave us. Most of us are really excited about new writers and fresh fic. We are always looking for more to read and I can name several people who
will flood your ask box come Tuesdays because they want more.
Because you’re going to do this thing.
I’m not sure about writing tips because I’m not a very confident writer (ask anyone who has been on the receiving end of one of my nervous rants), but what I do have going for me is an utter lack of shame and the complete willingness to jump right into something without thinking about it so I seem like I have it all under control. It’s all an illusion. I am a humbug.
Here is what I recommend:
Be brave. Be bold. Close your eyes and jump in.
Don’t be afraid to make mistakes or to ask for help.
Find a beta — someone to hold your hand or hit your ass with a cattle prod in turns. When you feel discouraged, keep going anyway (this is where the beta wielding cattle prod comes in). A good beta is worth their weight in gold.
Don’t compare yourself with other writers. It’s not a competition (except those times when it is).
Tag it so people can find it.
And, most important:
(I have to take one of my kids to dance class right now, but if you want to talk more, then please feel free to do so. And keep an eye on this because there will be people weighing in with tips and such.)
First thing, the only way to get better at something is to do it, and keep on doing it. So you write this fic, and maybe you’ll surprise yourself, and you’ll be really pleased with the result. More likely, you’ll think ‘well, it’s okay, but it didn’t quite live up to what I had in my head’. That’s okay, too! Many artists and writers are never completely happy with their work. That’s where practice comes in – you write one fic, do your best, and then move on and write another. And your writing skill is only going to grow with each one. Plus there’s the fact, which I’ve heard other writers attest to, that the fics which prove to be most popular with readers are often the ones that writers have the most doubts about. Which goes to show you never know what is going to connect with your audience. For me, a fresh idea written by an okay writer is often more enjoyable than an idea that I’ve already read a thousand times written by someone with a much more polished style.
I have a whole tag of writing tips! Some of it is stylistic and grammatical notes, but I’ve done some meta on the subject myself.
Going to paraphrase the tagline from NaNo – “The World Needs Your Fic.”
Why? Because it’s yours. You have the story to tell and however you tell it, that is going to be right.
Now all the cliches. Everybody has to start from somewhere. The more you write, the more practice you have, the better you will get. You can fix a bad page, you can’t fix a blank page. Just write!
Most importantly have fun.
I’m serious about the last part because writing can be hard. It’s easy to get discouraged, to decide it’s all rubbish and that you want to quit. What keeps you going on bad days? It kinda has to be you. Write for yourself first and foremost. Write because you love writing and you have a story to tell. Write because you enjoy the journey as well as the end.
Write the fic you want to read and enjoy it. You can do this. Although I do warn you, writing is addictive, it’s impossible to just stop with one story. Once you open the floodgates yikes, the stories will just keep on spinning.
I finished the outline for my post-season five fic – yay! and I kinda felt like sharing that fact. I haven’t actually started writing properly yet but I have half a dozen scenes sketched out in dialogue form, they came into my head and I had to write them down before I forgot them.
Here’s a couple of teasers:
“Oh I know all about your priorities Emma but don’t worry yourself, I already solved that mystery.”
“You’ll have to do better than that dearie. I was there. The pirate had no effect on
the outcome of that little tragedy.”
“I laughed my ass off when Hades green wench tricked your son into exchanging his
life for your worthless one.”
I’m still not entirely sure when I will start posting, next couple of weeks hopefully. I’m also not entirely sure about the title, suggestions are welcome if anyone has any. This should be fun!
I JUST LOVE MY RCIJ PROMPT SO MUCH! I WANT TO FIC IT AND ART IT AND ROLL AROUND IN IT SCREAMING & RIDICULOUSLY FLAPPING MY HANDS IN THE AIR UNTIL I AM BLUE IN FACE!!!
I love seeing this on my dash! This is like the best thing ever to see 🙂 Have to reblog!
I like my prompt too. It wasn’t anything like what I had prepared myself for, which was good. It’s being a nice challenge and I thought of a cool twist (well I think it’s a cool twist). I just really hope my person is going to like it.
Most of all I hope whoever got my prompt is at least as half as happy as you are. RCIJ should be fun. I just want everyone to have fun 🙂
… when you are halfway through getting a meal (or doing anything really) and have to stop because this scene just popped into your head and it has to be written right the hell now. At least in rough form because the dialogue is good and you can see the faces, feel the emotions and while the picture is clear and not fuzzy, it needs to be recorded.
… when you have a picture in your mind and you aren’t sure whether it’s an actual scene you saw on the TV, or just something you imagined yourself.
… when watching TV often has no appeal anymore, because there is nothing that compares to the TV in your mind, of your own stories and ideas.
… when you can’t sleep at night because you want to be writing, but when you go to write, you just want to sleep.
I know I’ve talked about this before, but I’m really sick of seeing writers who should know better say things like, “Tragedy is more compelling than stories where characters have a nice day and nothing bad happens!” without understanding why.
Tragedy is an effective story element when it’s a deviation from the norm. A character’s peaceful existence is disrupted by a catastrophic event that throws everything into chaos. The character now has to either develop so they can cope with the new status quo, or find a way to put things back the way they were. There’s a good story in that.
But when a character’s life is an unrelenting cavalcade of misery, another heaping dose of shit isn’t all that interesting. At that point, a compelling deviation from the norm would be said character having a nice day where nothing bad happens. And modern fiction is chock-full of misery porn, so by this logic, it’s no wonder the coffee shop AU is such a popular fanfiction trope.
Derek Hale getting a dog and putting his life back together is way more interesting than Derek Hale’s life getting worse for the 26th consecutive episode.
Creators like to hold up “everything is fine and nobody dies” as a sign that fanfic is bland and badly written, but if anything, it’s an indicator that mainstream fiction is bland and badly written.
I don’t usually reblog this sort of thing but as a writer this resonates with me.
A story needs conflict. It’s not a story unless there is conflict. However, I watch TV and I sometimes think the writers don’t get it – conflict doesn’t have to be major world ending misery.
Barely anyone on TV is happily married or in a stable committed relationship. TV writers think happy = boring and then they kill one of the partners off, or they make them have an affair etc. However, conflict can be compelling and make for a good story and the couple can still be together and happy.
I mean what is conflict at it’s most basic form? Character wants something. There is something in the way of them getting it. Whatever obstacle or obstacles in their way form the plot – conflict.
“Everything is fine and nobody dies” AND “the story is still compelling enough to read” makes for better writing in a way, because you are potentially doing more with less.
What the conflict is within a story, depends on the genre. People watch/read things with certain expectations. Tragedy is necessary if that is what the genre conventions call for, but there is certainly a place for “nice day and nothing world ending happens” as well.
Just my two cents.
#genre conventions#happiness isn’t boring#nature of conflict
Earlier @woodelf68 replied to my post season five character headcanon post and said:
“The
image of Hook being left to watch any kids is hilarious. Just imagine them
running him ragged and he is JUST SO OUT OF HIS DEPTH. File that under scenes I
didn’t realise I wanted to see, lol.”
and it inspired me. I took it as a prompt and wrote a little oneshot. It just wouldn’t leave me alone. This is set in the same verse as “He’s Behind You” which I posted the other day but about 18 months prior to that.
This isn’t actually really anti-Hook, just anti-Hook being competent looking after kids. I hope it makes somebody smile.
That was more destruction than I even imagined. *Looks at fic in awe* I even feel sorry for Hook, he really was trying his best.
@grace52373@robertmarch82 thanks for the comments guys! Perhaps Emma has lost the upper IQ necessary for independent thought around Hook. It certainly seems that way sometimes.
@woodelf68 your enthusiasm is making me smile, thanks so much!
Yeah I felt a bit sorry for Hook. He was just inept not uncaring. I just couldn’t write him as uncaring because they are kids. I couldn’t let Emma leave them with him, if he would have been mean. She left them with him because she knew he wouldn’t hurt them. Although I’m sure she never imagined how incompetent he would prove to be.
My headcanon around the fic is Snow was still fretting about leaving them, so David allowed her to call Emma to check in, with the agreement that if everything was ok then they would continue with their evening. However, when they got Emma she was at the sheriff’s station “oh I left them with Hook, I’m sure they are fine.” and then Snow hangs up and looks at David “we are going home right now.” and David says “I’m sure they will be fine, Hook wouldn’t harm them.” and Snow says “that’s not the point.” or words to that effect.
Snow was barely comfortable leaving them with Emma and is basically looking for any excuse to go home. Then she gets there and the place is a disaster zone. David is going to be doing all the cleanup and sleeping on the couch for a week for suggesting it. Emma I think would be horrified in front of Snow but secretly find it hilarious and tease Hook about it for ages afterwards.
Hook just begs for them to tell no-one but Henry finds out and then everyone finds out and Rumple and Regina go full on sarcastic and snide comments. Belle finds him a book in the library and quietly, without fanfare, gives it to Emma because she is the logical one who thinks of the kids. Hook is bound to wind up looking after them again even though Snow has sworn “never again” and so for the good of the children, he needs some help.
Yeah I should probably stop thinking about this now. I really loved this prompt, it’s just so easy to spin the story around it.
—-
Spoiler alert. If you want to read Hook being spat on, sicked on and have poo thrown at him – by a baby – then this fic has that.
Anyone got any suggestions for tags? I was going to put this on AO3 and then thought better of it because I have absolutely zero idea how to categorize it. Maybe I will just leave it on tumblr as a prompt drabble. That would probably be safest.
Synopsis: In order to have a peaceful Christmas the
Charming, Swan, Mills, Gold family decide to leave Storybrooke behind and
travel to the other side of the world – where they see a pantomime with a
familiar story.
Note:@woodelf68 gave me a prompt for Rumbelle is Hope but I had already
started my entry and couldn’t work it in. I promised I would write another fic
using it. I’m sorry it took me a while. I hope you enjoy 🙂 Warning, there is a
side order of minor Hook bashing, I just couldn’t help myself. It’s post season
five and basically tooth-rotting fluff.
The prompt was for a daughter and my head canon (until show canon says otherwise) is that she is called Nadia. It means ‘Hope’ and I thought that rather appropriate. I also have head canon for the name of a son, but that will have to wait for another fanfic I guess.
Prompt: Rumplestiltskin is teaching their little girl to dance by having her
stand on top of his shoes. Belle watches unnoticed from the doorway until their
daughter spots her.
Wow, I didn’t expect something so long! Where to start? I think the only way that I could see Belle and Regina actually becoming friends. let along Regina being allowed the honorific of ‘aunt’, would be if Regina really stepped up at some point in a crisis involving Nadia, either actively saving the little girl from some danger or staying with Belle and helping her out when Rumpel couldn’t be there for some reason. Which would have given them time to talk, with Regina genuinely apologising for keeping Belle captive all those years.
Neal Nolan is really a tongue twister of a name, isn’t it? I don’t have any problem with Robyn being given as a name to honour her father, except for the fact that it was so contrived, with Robin not giving his own daughter a name. I get that she came much earlier than expected, but for pete’s sake, when the baby comes, you name it! More than a week or so just became ‘wtf?’. But I couldn’t choose a better substitute than Eleanor/Ellie, as Eleanor was a popular name, a queen’s name, during the time that Robin Hood lived. It seems like one he might have considered. And I like names that give you a choice how you want to be known once you’re grown up; either the more formal full name or a shorter nickname. I do understood that calling her Robyn might be a constant painful reminder of her father’s death to Regina, but maybe she kept it as a middle name?
England! I can’t believe someone didn’t quash Belle more firmly when she suggested a transatlantic trip with four children under five! And one more on the way for Snow, omg. And I love that you remembered Johanna and used that name for their second daughter; it’s both pretty and makes sense that Snow would think of it. But then I thought, despite their curse memories of this world, Snow and Charming and Regina and Belle don’t really have any practical experience or knowledge of travelling in this world. Henry’s old enough that Emma doesn’t really have to worry about looking after him, and Hook probably doesn’t care, only Gold knew just enough to really think ‘not the best idea’. But it obviously is turning out great and actually – with Henry soon to go off to college, away from home, making new friends and then a job afterwards – who knows if he’d have time or desire for a big family vacation after that? He’s young enough here to still enjoy himself as a kid and have the adults deal with all the arrangements and paying for things. And he’ll certainly remember it more than the little ones. The panto was a lot of fun, I enjoyed reading it. And omg the wands, and Nadia knocking everyone on the head with it and Rumpel hoping the battery would wear out soon. These were very ‘real’ kids! And the dance scene was as sweet and fluffy as it could be.
Oh wow this is some comment 🙂 You have totally made my week. I’m so glad that you liked it! I don’t know what the correct comment etiquette is but I’m going to respond. You took the time to write a review and I really appreciate it.
Eeek I’ve just realized I’m practically writing an essay in response explaining all my character heacanon. I’m going to make that a separate post because there is a lot of it.
Anyway, I nearly didn’t write this fic because the premise is patently ridiculous. How do you get the whole gang to travel halfway around the world, when they never leave town? I’m from England and I go to panto every year and the idea just wouldn’t leave me alone. I checked and the US doesn’t have it, so I just sort of hand waved it to make it happen.
In reality, a last minute transatlantic christmas vacation, with four kids under five would never happen. Somebody would have totally quashed it. I do love the justification you gave though about nobody really understanding how difficult it would be, plus it being Henry’s last trip before college because that does make total sense. Yeah, let’s go with that 🙂
I have to call “Neal Nolan” his full name because of Neal, Henry’s dad. I always have Rumple refer to him as Bae, but obviously anyone else would say Neal and it just feels so wrong to not specify that it’s the Charming baby I’m talking about, not Rumple’s son.
In regards to Robyn, it’s just because of the nature of her conception, just calling her Robyn feels so wrong to me. I definitely think that Robin should be honored. I didn’t specify in the fic but her last name is Locksley because she is her fathers daughter. Your reasoning is exactly why I picked the name of Eleanor/Ellie as the substitute.
Yeah I kinda figured Snow and Charming would have more kids, I don’t know why, it just seems to me like Snow would want that. Calling their next daughter Johanna, keeps with their trend about honoring people they lost.
They were very ‘real’ kids? Wow. I don’t know kids at all, which is why they didn’t really talk at all because I have no clue how kids talk. I’m really glad that they seemed real.
Note: This is canon compliant up until near the end of season three. After
that, there has been a non-specified amount of time where Storybrooke hasn’t
exactly been perfectly peaceful, but Rumple and Belle have been together and
relatively happy. They got married and stayed that way basically, with no
dagger, or hat, or darkened heart to break them up. It’s just fluffy, and kinda
silly, I hope at least it makes one person smile 🙂
Oh and fair
warning, there’s a bit of a side order of minor Hook bashing, and then some
OutlawQueen. I couldn’t quite resist. I never shipped OutlawQueen really but
I’m a sucker for a happy ending. Those guys got a raw deal, I’d like to make
that right.
I never saw this on line. I will have to check it out! I loved the story and everyone getting involved. I had a feeling Rumple would show up in the end. He can never disappoint Belle!
Awww thank you so much! This was my first fanfic for this fandom, first fanfic at all in years and yours is the first review I have received. I write because I love writing but I’m not going to deny it’s nice to hear someone enjoyed it. It means a lot that you took the time, so thank you 🙂
Note: This is canon compliant up until near the end of season three. After
that, there has been a non-specified amount of time where Storybrooke hasn’t
exactly been perfectly peaceful, but Rumple and Belle have been together and
relatively happy. They got married and stayed that way basically, with no
dagger, or hat, or darkened heart to break them up. It’s just fluffy, and kinda
silly, I hope at least it makes one person smile 🙂
Oh and fair
warning, there’s a bit of a side order of minor Hook bashing, and then some
OutlawQueen. I couldn’t quite resist. I never shipped OutlawQueen really but
I’m a sucker for a happy ending. Those guys got a raw deal, I’d like to make
that right.
I figured if I was going to be writing more fanfics than just this one, then I should probably post them someplace other than just my tumblr.
Oh and there’s a synopsis now too:
“The Storybrooke library isn’t very popular. Belle sets out to change that by organizing a special concert, with the help of her husband Rumplestiltskin. Also features Henry and the entire extended family.”
